No longer a pinata-raising simulator, this new Viva Pinata is (as the title implies) a mini-game-filled party game. One nice thing about this title is that it forgoes the board game premise that so many party games adhere to in favor of getting straight to the good part - the mini-games.

We like nata. I mean, we really, really enjoyed the quirky mix of farming and animal reproduction. It was really pretty and deceptively complex too - unquestionably a product of the house of Rare - and about the best thing the once mighty development house has released in the last few years. So it came with some degree of trepidation to learn that the Viva Pinata licence had been farmed out to the talented but distinctly foreign development team Krome - Australia's largest studio. Did they manage to keep the flavour and charms of the original?After a few hours' play with the title, even the most forgiving player will still struggle to comprehend what's going on here. It's not so much that is a dud game - it's just that it's looking somewhat redundant, and has more than a whiff of 'cash-in' about it. Costume quest 2.

That, and it lacks a lot of the compelling structure of many other party games out there. The whole experience feels haphazardly tied together and the whole structure of the game suffers for it. At a basic level, off the back of the 4Kids television show and product tie-ins, a party game seems like a great idea. It is - and the game starts off well enough.

You can choose from eight characters from the show - male and female Horstachios, Fudgehogs, Pretztails and Fizzlybear. What, no spice weasels?

The game kicks off with an introductory cutscene that kind of outlines the premise for the game. The contestants are all being televised and each round of the competition (particularly the racing) makes up a segment of the show. This cutscene leads straight into your first race. The load screen gives you a handy reminder of the controls, which are actually kind of complex, given the young target market.

Acceleration is set to the right trigger, while A jumps you, B sends you into a powerslide and X fires off whatever items you've collected - which we'll delve into shortly. Party Animals features a little over 50 mini-games, about half of which we enjoyed. Some, like the circular arena-based game of spotlight (stay in the light and collect candy as it falls) treads very closely to several others that take place in the same setting; there's a lot this kind of retreading. This figure also includes 12 raceways that you compete on intermittently between mini-game bouts. First off, the racing is pretty fun. The courses are full of multiple routes, speed pads, offensive and defensive items. You can double your size, use wings to propel you over obstacles, strap a jet to your back and launch yourself forwards.

There are cluster rockets and honey-slicks to add a bit of aggressive tactical spin to the racing too. Our beef is not with the racing mechanic - we've played far worse - but in how it is slotted into the game. Racing from start to finish in a cross-town format doesn't feel like a mini-game because it isn't. It deserves its own section on the menu, like a mini Grand Prix or something along those lines.

The rapid change from racing to mini-games back to racing is jarring and doesn't give the racing the attention it deserves. By the time you've enjoyed the track's tricks and come to grips with the smaller finesses of the weapons and items, the race is over and forgotten. The mini-games, which really should be grouped together, away from racing action, pit you in all sorts of situations.

Some, like counting how many pinatas are hiding behind a screen using simple maths seem almost chore-like. Others, such as smashing apart pumpkins for candy and some of the more physical challenges are far more fun. There are your run-of-the-mill 'avoid the obstacle (snowball, spinning arm) while collecting candy' tasks too. A few are downright fun, even - trying to cover up as much white space with your own splotches of paint while painting over your competitors' colour becomes a cutthroat challenge. One of the more intriguing aspects of the game is that you're not always playing as a pinata. Sometimes, you're playing as the aggressive, tribal Ruffians or manipulating coloured cursors, baseball bats and more.

That definitely adds another angle beyond the sugary cuteness. Plus, breaking out with a baseball bat on an inanimate pinata in a tree raises all sorts of strange questions about cannibalism and whether pinatas are actually aware of what they are. But I digress. These games are mostly fun, disposable stuff. But the lack of focus or structure really makes us wonder why anyone would bother. If you're going to follow Mario Party to the bank, you can't leave out the essential between-games gameplay. Mario Party had board game-style maps that explained why you were competing in the various bite-sized gameplay scenarios.

If Krome is going to divide mini-games up with races, why not place characters on Pinata Island and have them race between mini-game locations? Give us a sense of placement and structure before asking us to gather as much candy as possible for no real payoff other than coming in first overall after a dozen or so rounds.

This makes us sad, because with a bit more thought applied to the game mould itself, this could be a real gem. Krome clearly had Rare's full asset catalogue on hand because the game does look very good. Race tracks feature massive horizons filled with bubbly villages, trees, mountains and smaller details that will impress. It's a good thing too, because it's the presentation that's really going to sell the game to its intended under 12s market.

That, of course, is the ultimate argument in the game's favour - this is not a game for critics or experienced gamers. If you go in expecting a challenge, you're going to be disappointed.

In fact, the game kind of belies its lessened difficulty by including an option to 'keep things close' between you and your AI nemeses - presumably for people like us. Moreover, the game practically gives away its achievements. Ten points just for competing?

Twenty for coming first? Unlocking five achievements at once? Odd and not uncommon. Are kids more discerning today than five or ten years ago? When it comes to games, we think that's a big yes.

So, will the game make enough of a splash with the licence alone, seeing as the gameplay is only partially up to scratch? That, friends, is a game of wait and see.

Viva Piñata: Party Animals is a video game developed by Krome Studios for the Microsoft Xbox 360 video game console, part of the Viva Piñata series. The game was announced in July 2007 and was released on October 30, 2007, in North America, November 15, 2007, in Australia, November 16, 2007, in Europe, and December 6, 2007, in Japan.

Plot

The Party Animals Championship Challenge is starting, hosted by Piere Parrybo and Pecky Pudgeon. Characters such as Hudson Horstachio are competing in the challenge.

Why It Sucks

1. Rare had nothing to do with the game aside from giving the developers artwork and info about the visual style. Instead, Krome Studios, creator of the Ty The Tasmanian Tiger franchise developed the game.
2. It's just a Mario Party ripoff with a Viva Piñata skin and different minigames.
3. The game has nothing to do with the last game. It is instead a tie into the TV series.
4. Despite being a tie into the TV series, only eight characters are available to select, and four of them are the female counterparts of the male characters, and those female characters aren't even main characters of the show. The selection is Hudson Horstachio, Hailey Horstachio, Fergy Fudgehog, Francine Fudgehog, Paulie Pretztail, Petunia Pretztail, Franklin Fizzlybear, and Florence Fizzlybear. You can't play as Les Galagoogoo, Ella Elephanilla, or Langston Lickatoad who are the main characters of the show.
5. All of the minigames feel identical to each other, to the point where it feels like the game only has 6 minigames with a few different skins.
6. Easy difficulty aimed towards children. The original game was aimed towards casual gamers and it still had a reasonable challenge, giving no excuse for this game to struggle with being challenging to play.
7. The music is average.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Decent graphics with the correct art style of the Viva Piñata series.
2. There are some enjoyable minigames.